Home Blog Page 27

A student remembers Franz Strauss

John Ericson
-
0

Recently I was asked about the source of a great quote from the last student of Franz Strauss. Having made a solo CD of his music back in 2003, I have an affinity for his music. Below is an example of a work of his that you may not know, one that should be performed more, Empfindungenam Meere [Seaside Impressions], Op. 12.

Back to the quote question, I first thought I could find the source in my dissertation, but it was not there so I had to dig a bit. It was published in an article in The Horn Call Vol. 2 No. 2 (May, 1972) and is in a translation by Bernhard Bruechle of an article by Franz Trenner, “Der Vater: Franz Strauss” from the Neuen Zeitschrift fuer Musik, Jahrgang 1955. There we read,

When making music, Strauss was always an educator. And this ability was important to his mastership at the Academy. His last student, Hermann Tuckermann, who was sent to him by his favorite student, Bruno Hoyer, tells: “The method of Franz Strauss is first of all to emphasize tone quality. He always said: “Only by sustaining tones and by interval studies can you achieve a noble tone.” Therefore each lesson began with tonal exercises. With his students he worked through the horn concertos, and the important parts from opera and concert literature. He never accepted a fee for his lessons. His main interest was to impart his experience and skill to hornists.”

One gets the sense that Trenner talked with Tuckermann to get this remembrance of Franz Strauss. A great insight into the teaching of a giant of the horn in the nineteenth century.

By the way, all the tracks of my CD are on YouTube, but, as I like to gently remind people, a better audio experience may be had listening to the physical CD.

PSA: How many mouthpieces should you own?

John Ericson
-
0

In my recent article of bad horn advice I suggested that a serious student of the horn needs to own at least 5 mouthpieces.

To test my theory a bit I ran a Twitter survey that got a good number of responses, seen here. Most players have less than five, and I would suggest need to think about investing in more.

On a very basic level, if you have five mouthpieces there is a pretty good chance at least one of them is a decent mouthpiece.

In my own case, I believe I probably passed the five mouthpiece threshold by my freshman year (!) of college. As a teacher I have observed way too many good students slogging along on some obviously brand X not good mouthpiece and that is all they have. Ignorance can be bliss, but it is not a good thing when it comes to your horn playing and equipment.

Why five is the number is with that many handy to try you will have some perspective that some really are better than others; it will open your eyes to several realities. One big one is that better equipment will help you play better, your problems are not all you but rather are influenced by the equipment.

The other thing that scares me is that I know there are teachers out there that have studios of students but have hardly any mouthpieces or experience with different mouthpieces. This is a handicap to good teaching, as you have no idea what the problems are that your students are having playing as they play along on potentially oddball and difficult to use equipment. One size does not fit all!

Not to mention that some of the best mouthpieces ever produced are on the market today, there are wonderful new models on the market. Take the plunge! Buy a couple mouthpieces.

UPDATE: I seem to have deleted the bad horn advice article, but this one gets at some similar points. 

Podcast: Injury, pressure, dystonia, other playing problems

John Ericson
-
0

In episode 29 of the Horn Notes Podcast the topic centers around injury, including focal dystonia, mouthpiece pressure, and various playing problems, with some equipment tips. Joining me for the episode is Gabriel Kovach, principal horn of the Phoenix Symphony, and this episode is jam packed. Listen on iTunes, etc., or at the link below:

http://hornnotes.libsyn.com/horn-notes-29-injury-pressure-dystonia-problems-with-gabriel-kovach

Several of the topics covered are ones I have written little about, but not for lack of interest or knowledge.

Injury and playing problems are very personal topics, ones that people tend to avoid talking about. Gabe and I both speak of some personal experiences in the episode, and in my comments, especially at the end of the episode, I am thinking of several fairly recent conversations to guide what I am saying.

One point I would highlight is that of the authority figure telling you something, but it actually being wrong. Gabe has a great story related to this in the episode. As teachers especially, we have a lot of power to give people complexes, to leave a negative mark mentally and physically. Of course there is a place for straight talk. But then again, be aware that some of that straight talk you hear is at best a version of some conventional wisdom. It may be up to some later teacher to walk you back off the cliff so to speak.

Going beyond the episode just a bit, I know in my own case there were times I tried hard to do things I found in books, but they did not really work.

Part of it is just variables of how people can play well. To give a concrete example, there are teachers that say mouthpiece pressure should be balanced between the lips, and others say it should focus on the lower lip with the upper more free to buzz. Which method is correct? I suspect both; it might make an interesting study, to be sure, but it would not surprise me if the results were inconclusive. You of course might play better one way or the other, and there is nothing wrong with experimenting, but realize that an authority figure telling you one way is correct and the other is incorrect may just be repeating a conventional wisdom passed to them by their teachers — advice that sounds right but is actually just one of several possible successful approaches.

I could say more but, in short, give the episode a listen, I think it to be one of the best episodes to date. There may be one more new episode in December, if not be watching for the podcast to start up again in early 2019.

Podcast: Talking about Horn Etudes

John Ericson
-
0

Etudes. Studied systematically or in more of a free form manner they a great way to work on technique and to keep your chops healthy. They are the topic of a conversation with Gabriel Kovach, principal horn of the Phoenix Symphony, in Episode 28 of the Horn Notes Podcast. Download from iTunes, etc., or access the show directly here:

http://hornnotes.libsyn.com/horn-notes-28-etudes-with-guest-gabriel-kovach

It is a good conversation, touching on some common materials but also some new and interesting materials. At the conclusion of the podcast I also speak of what materials I use typically in my teaching. Those materials have evolved over time for me. I don’t consider myself to be a “system” teacher but I do have materials I like to use and feel are effective. A short series of articles from a few years ago on the same general topic may be found here. 

One of them not mentioned in the podcast are the Gallay Op. 57 etudes for second horn. I put my own version of these in my original low horn book (currently out of print), and I’ve been puzzling over them recently as I was given a copy of the new edition of these by Lucien Thevet, published in 1948. What Thevet did was shorten 2/3 of them to various degrees (some drastically), and also he transposed three of them into lower printed keys. Clearly not done just for space, it is the sort of editing we don’t see people do today.

At the same time, though, looking at them with the lens of having taught from this book for a while, I can begin to see his point. Sometimes there is more to be gained from a shorter and more focused etude. The preface states “The experience of many years’ teaching has guided us in this choice.”

Which is all to say there is more than one way to use etude materials and you don’t have to use them as printed. Beyond cuts and transposing to new keys you can use etudes prescriptively to work on specific problems, you can use them to organize practice generally, or you can just play them for fun. It’s all up to you.

Episodes 25-27 of the Horn Notes Podcast, interesting new horn products and much more

John Ericson
-
0

Episode 27 of the Horn Notes Podcast was recently posted, an interview with Ion Balu and Dan Vidican focusing on their new horns but also much more (Oil your valves! Don’t hike without water!).

As with prior episodes, this podcast may be downloaded from iTunes, etc., or may be accessed directly here:

In checking Horn Matters I realized that I had somehow neglected to also highlight episodes 25 and 26. This pair of episodes features a conversation with Derek Wright of Houghton Horns.

As to the “more” of episode 25, not only do we talk about new products seen at TMEA 2018 (BAM cases, Verus mouthpieces and horns, etc.), but also there is a second guest, Warren Gref, formerly of the San Diego Symphony, with great ideas to improve musicality and accuracy on the horn.

My goal is to be informative and entertaining. Check them all out! And be watching for more episodes, I plan to be posting about one a month during the school year.

14 books published on the horn, 2013-18

John Ericson
-
0

A question I recently needed to research was that of what books on the horn (and middle brass) have been published in the past five years? That is, books with substantial text, not just music and exercises.

Of course, the new editions of my books are all from 2018 and are of this type (more info on all here):

  • Introducing the Horn. Third edition
  • The Low Horn Boot Camp. Second edition
  • A Mello Catechism. Third Edition
  • Playing Descant and Triple Horn. Second edition
  • Playing Natural Horn Today. Second edition
  • Playing the Wagner Tuba. Second edition

Moving on from my books, we have featured a number of the most recent publications in Horn Matters. By year, for 2017 we have:

  • Jeffrey Agrell, The Creative Hornist: Essays, Rants, and Odes for the Classical Hornist on Creative Music Making (Review)
  • Jeffrey Agrell, Horn Technique: A New Approach to an Old Instrument (Review)
  • Lin Foulk, Horn Basics: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Students

From 2016 we have:

  • Dempf and Seraphinoff, Guide to the Solo Horn Repertoire (review)
  • Eli Epstein, Horn Playing from the Inside Out, Third Edition (review)

From 2015 the only book publication I have located is

  • Stephen Lawson, Modern Method for Historical Horn Performance

Finally, from 2014 we have

  • Randy Gardner, Good Vibrations: Masterclasses for Brass Players (review)
  • Glen Perry, The Essential Guide to French Horn Maintenance

I did not locate any book publications from 2013 beyond publications seen in the list above in newer editions. To my thinking this is not enough publications! Increasingly, we are having to rely on the Internet and older, dated sources. We should not be relying upon books from the 50s or 70s as our main references, scholarship and knowledge has in fact moved forward.

So, what about the previous five years? Were they better?

It is a similar low number of publications overall. Working backwards by date of publication to 2008 we have:

  • Fergus McWilliam, Blow Your Own Horn!: Horn Heresies (2012) (review)
  • Norman Schweikert, The Horns of Valhalla: Saga of the Reiter Brothers (2012) (review)
  • Gamble and Lynch, Dennis Brain: A Life in Music (2011) (quote/info)
  • Jasper Rees, A Devil to Play: One Man’s Year-Long Quest to Master the Orchestra’s Most Difficult Instrument (2008) (commentary)
  • William Melton, The Wagner Tuba: A History (2008)

And there we have it, not a lot of books on the horn and related instruments have been published recently. If I have missed any significant book publications please contact me and I will add them to the list. And if any of these publications sound interesting, buy them! Things don’t stay in print unless sales are made.

How to Hold a Stop Mute, and a Mute Comparison

John Ericson
-
0

One topic I had literally never, ever, given any thought to until very recently was how to hold a stop mute. My method of choice was what for lack of a better term I will call the caveman approach. Holding it in tight with the hand around the stem, don’t want it to fall out!

I had also seen people who cupped their hand around the bell of the stop mute, but that always seemed insecure to me and I doubted it sounded much differently either.

What I learned in a recent studio class however was that some people have given this some thought and there is a third way that is superior.

Testing them back to back, the cupped fingers method was the worst, with caveman also lacking in color. The best was to hold the stem lightly with the fingers. It seems to allow the mute to resonate better, the sound has a better color and more of it.

That led to a comparison of brands of stop mutes, which I had last done teaching at a music camp maybe 15 years ago. On hand we had Tom Crown, TrumCor, and Alexander. Do the comparison yourself sometime if you have the chance, it is quite interesting. The bottom line for us was the TrumCor and Alexander are both fine choices with a slight overall edge to TrumCor with the largest bell installed. The Tom Crown is an OK mute too, but not as powerful and the sound is not quite as good. If that is your main stop mute, you might consider an upgrade.

And then I had one more stop mute in my office, an unmarked mystery mute. It has a “one piece” bell and a larger tube out compared to the TrumCor. This one, on the right in the photo, is a very fine stop mute and will become my main one. Based on who it came to me from my guess is that it is 1970s vintage Giardinelli.

In any case, this is a comparison well worth doing in a studio class or with your friends. There are very real differences to be heard with different brands of stop mute and different holding methods. Something to know when you need more stopped horn!

NOTE: You would have to be a super fan Horn Matters to have noticed, but we had a brief hiccup with the site and a few articles posted around the time of this one were lost. This is one of them; content is really similar, but not identical to the original. 

How to Practice Maxime-Alphonse Book 6

John Ericson
-
1

One book of studies many Horn Matters readers undoubtedly own is Maxime-Alphonse book 6. The etudes, besides being very difficult, are also very long. There is a tip given in the book itself, however, as to how to use this book.

The idea presented in the “Note” [Foreword] by the author** is that you are to work on the etudes in short sections as technical studies. Each short section, between the letters, is an exercise. There are suggestions given as to how many times to repeat any specific exercise. As to the etude as a whole, “Playing them through from start to finish should be considered a goal of highest virtuosity.”

This is an example from etude 6. The whole etude in one blow would be quite a chore, but breaking it down as suggested in the preface turns this into a very workable and even enjoyable group of technical exercises. His goal being to combine the exercises in a manner to give them “a melodic shape which will make practice attractive and avoid any monotony.”

Get out your book 6 and explore it anew as a series of short technical studies, you can get a lot from it.

**See Maxime-Alphonse, International Man of Mystery for more on the author.

Dimes, part III: Use dimes from before 1965

John Ericson
-
0

Twice before in Horn Matters we have turned to the topic of Dimes:

Which brings us to Part III. I don’t have small hands, but ultimately I felt after a year with my new horn that I could not quite reach the levers and that palm key risers were not cutting it as a long term alternate:

And this is not at all a slight to the maker either, but I have tried other horns by the same custom maker where the location of the levers was different. I have to believe they are constantly evolving their design to a point, and part of the issue is buyers have relatively long and relatively short fingers. You won’t please everyone.

In any case, I have now applied pre-1965 dimes to the levers. Why before 1965? Because they stopped making solid silver dimes in 1964. 1965 and later dimes are made of a clad material that has copper in the core. The outer layers will wear through in use on your horn, leaving a rough finish, while the silver dimes have a nice soft feeling (if that makes any sense).

I had a few of these around from coin collecting years ago, and opted to put the 1962 one in the middle face up (as I was also made in 1962).

I’ve also moved them twice now, I think I have them at an optimal point for my hands. You need to reach your valves comfortably! Get dimes if you need them.

Tip: Tilt, the Secret to Mid-Low Range Power

John Ericson
-
0

People are always looking for horn secrets. One difficult range for many players is the “cash register” just below the staff, getting the notes to speak with power.

People talk about lots of stuff to help that range, but neglect one critical element that can absolutely revolutionize your low playing. That element is tilt.** As in tilting your head.

Combined with a good jaw drop and tonguing position the added tilt of the head can be exactly what makes a note speak with more power. In the photos the upper note is Ab in the staff and the lower one is Ab below the staff.

The exact amount of tilt is personal, but in my case it is as seen in the photos. I always tilt to my right, although for some readers a tip in the opposite direction may work better.

Try it! The results, combined with your jaw drop, might pleasantly surprise you, resulting in a more powerful and resonant low range with more secure jumps in and out of the low range.

UPDATE: To clarify, the tilt is to the side, in addition to any other movement (tipping) you may have in your embouchure.

**This post was written to read as an April fool’s joke, but (surprise!) actually it is not, the slight tilt is a quirk of my personal approach to the low range. Something about the tilt opens up the aperture.

And, of course, working on your low range is also no joke. For even more tips and practical music to develop your low range, see my recently updated publication, The Low Horn Boot Camp, available in print or as a Kindle eBook.

For more on my full line of publications visit the Horn Notes Edition website at www.hornnotes.com

1...262728...157Page 27 of 157
© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv